Special teams proved the difference as the Toronto Maple Leafs fell 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
They say familiarity breeds contempt. In this case, familiarity made for an especially boring hockey game.
“Meetings between Mike Babcock’s Toronto Maple Leafs and Bill Peters’ (a former Babcock disciple in Detroit) Carolina Hurricanes were chess matches last season; the two teams split seven goals over the three-game season series. The first meeting required a shootout to decide a 1-1 tie, the second went into overtime tied 0-0, and the other the Leafs won 3-1.”
– MLHS Game Preview
The prescout ahead of this game had to be akin to looking in a mirror for Mike Babcock. The breakouts we’ve seen from the Red Wings for years (and from last season’s Leafs team) are commonplace with Bill Peters’ Hurricanes. As is the stifling neutral zone play, historically a hallmark of Mike Babcock’s clubs. Same deal with the penalty kill: One man deep on the forecheck disrupting movement up the ice before retreating to stack four along the blueline, forcing dump-ins and turnovers.
As one would expect in a clash of two former coaching colleagues, each team more or less had the other figured out. It played out as a game of mistakes from there. The Leafs capitalised first on a misplay by Cam Ward up the boards, leading to a Jake Gardiner goal from the point. Later in the first period, a Canes powerplay picked apart the Leafs penalty-kill just enough to generate a scramble in front of the net for the tying goal. In the second period, a stacked Canes blueline picked off an offensive zone entry on the penalty kill and went back the other way for a shorthanded goal that later stood up as the game-winner.
The Leafs struggled to find their rhythm early, impeded by their poor performance in the faceoff circle (2 for 13 after 20 minutes). Shots were 10-10 after the first, but the Canes led in possession for nearly the entire period, finishing up with a 22-15 advantage in shot attempts.
The Leafs had a chance to answer back on two powerplays of their own in the second period but ended up conceding the game-deciding goal while on the man-advantage. The Leafs did not manage the puck well against an aggressive Hurricanes penalty kill, enabling the league’s best PK unit to generate a 2 on 1 (well cut out by Gardiner) and two breakaways shorthanded, one of which led to Viktor Stalberg’s game-winning goal.
The Leafs generated a respectable push in the third period but couldn’t break through either Cam Ward or the five-man cluster of Canes defenders jamming up the slot. Toronto’s best chances to tie the game came on a third-period powerplay; they managed to set up in the zone for nearly the better part of a minute and a half, but couldn’t apply the clinical touch needed.
There seems to be something of a course correction happening after the Leafs’ ‘high-event’ start to the season. While the Leafs have scored just two goals over the course of their last two games, they have allowed two or less in each of their last four as well as fewer than 30 shots in the past two outings. The past couple of games haven’t been nearly as fun to watch, but it’s probably for the best that the Leafs start learning how to generate offence the hard way earlier in the season rather than later; the highly-entertaining end-to-end hockey is difficult to replicate game in and game out as the season progresses and the NHL becomes a heavier, tighter-checking league.
Post-Game Notes
– A season-low 7:07 in ice time for Nikita Soshnikov. He started the game off with a good forecheck on his first shift that created a turnover before testing Ward with his lone shot of the game, but line four accomplished little after that, finishing bottom of the team in possession. It goes without saying that Soshnikov doesn’t have enough to work with as it stands. He was one of the Leafs’ best forwards against Montreal on Saturday and the coach has acknowledged the need for more opportunity last week, but the top-nine seems to be written in stone as is. We’re at something of an impasse. Side note: 2 for 6 on defensive zone draws drops Ben Smith below 45% in defensive zone draw efficiency since joining the team.
– Nazem Kadri matched up against the Staal line, as expected, and finished with 10 shot attempts for/13 against and 1 goal for/0 against. That’s a result the Leafs would’ve taken no questions asked before the game. He went 7 for 13 against Jordan Staal in the faceoff circle as well, including two of three in the defensive zone. Kadri was instrumental on the Leafs’ lone goal; he won the battle on the half wall before going to the net and taking Cam Ward’s eyes away on the Gardiner point shot.
– That he was able to generate chances for himself in a game as tight checking as this one is another test passed for Mitch Marner; he was able to jump on a few turnovers and create time and space in transition. He was credited with three shots on goal, three takeaways and finished even in possession in 14:32 of ice time. The highlight of his game was the no-look spinarama pass to the opposite wing on the late-game PP.
– Auston Matthews’ line was the team’s best in terms of its possession play and ability to generate offensive opportunity off of the cycle. Four shots on goal (for both Matthews and Nylander) and another missed empty net is starting to feel like groundhog day for Matthews, but it’s a positive sign nonetheless that the line was able to make inroads in a game of this nature. This was one of Matthews’ better games of the season.
“I thought Auston’s line was dominant. They had lots of chances. You do good things in life, good things happen — sometimes not as quick as you’d want.”
– Mike Babcock after the loss to Carolina
– With his goal, Jake Gardiner is now up to four on the season, bringing him to nearly 60% of last season’s total (7) in just 19 games. That’s more in line with what Gardiner should be producing given his shooting ability. Gardiner helped drive offensive opportunity all game long, finishing with a team-high 21 shot attempts for while on the ice. His rush up ice before picking out Nylander with a rocket of a pass across the slot, leading to Auston Matthews’ best chance of the game (he knocked it high over an empty net) was a thing of beauty. Great game.
All Situations Shot Attempts
